Conspiracy Theory

Early in the summer of 2001 the press announced that the Brooklyn Union Gas Holders located on Vandervoort Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn were scheduled for demolition. These enormous twin 400 foot tall structures were local landmarks. Since they were not far from my home, I decided to go watch, and photograph, the operation at 7:00 am on the morning of Sunday, July 15th.

The attacks of September 11th, 2001 happened about seven weeks later. I watched the World Trade Center buildings collapse from my living room window.

In a way similar to the symmetry of an inkblot that can appear like an eagle or a vampire bat, there was symmetry in the dual gas holding tanks and the twin towers, as well as symmetry between the two demolitions. They are being interpreted, like inkblots, in powerfully conflicting ways by competing interest groups.

Having witnessed both events myself, I can see distinct differences between them as well as a troubling similarity. The memory of the gas holding tank demolition was fresh in my mind as I watched the twin towers collapse. My method for photographing both occurrences was basically identical. The destruction of the World Trade Center took a much longer period of time and was chaotic. The gas holding tanks simultaneously collapsed to one side, exactly on schedule. The twin towers essentially fell into their own footprint, one after the other, unpredictably and tragically trapping hundreds of first responders and over two thousand occupants of the buildings.

Rationally I want to believe that the 9-11 attacks occurred as described by the general narrative detailed in the 9-11 Commission Report and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) analysis of the WTC collapse. Nonetheless, with a more emotional, intuitive sense, I can’t quite shake feelings of suspicion and a morbid fascination that there was much more to the attacks than has been explained in the official accounts. As absurdly far-fetched as the possibility that the World Trade Center buildings that collapsed on September 11th, 2001 were brought down by controlled demolition seems to be, I can’t quite shake the feeling that such a monstrous act was possible.

Individuals and agencies passionately explaining both competing narratives have written volumes. As I peruse this information I find my “beliefs” swaying wildly one way or the other, and as my mind changes, these photographs remain consistent, like the ink of a Rorschach test blot.